1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an ink jet recording apparatus which detects an edge position of a plurality of recording sheets and determines a size and/or a type of the plurality of recording sheets, and ejects droplets of ink on to a subsequent recording sheet based on the detected edge position and the determined size and/or type of the plurality of recording sheets.
2. Description of Related Art
In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink having different hues, such as yellow, cyan, magenta and black are supplied to a recording bead, and the recording head ejects the ink of the respective colors in accordance with a predetermined system to form dots on a recording medium, such that a color image is formed. Known ink jet recording apparatus may perform image recording using a method generally referred to as “marginless recording.” “Marginless recording” is a recording method in which ink is ejected over an entire surface of a recording medium i.e., the ink is ejected up to an outer edge of the recording medium, such that the image recorded is similar to that of a photograph.
When marginless recording is executed, the recording medium needs to be precisely conveyed, such that no margin is formed at the outer periphery thereof. In one known ink jet recording apparatus, a media sensor is mounted on a carriage that holds an ink jet recording head, the media sensor detects a position of both edges of a recording medium each time that an image is recorded on the recording medium by a predetermined feed amount e.g., ¼ inch, and scanning of the carriage is controlled based on the detection of the position of the edges.
However, because the detection of the position of the edges of the recording medium is performed during image recording, the amount of time that it takes to record an image increases. Moreover, in order to accurately detect the position the edges of the recording medium, a scanning speed of the carriage decreases.